Remixxing the mainstream news one blog post at a time from the shores of Venice Beach. News, politics & conspiracy theories about world issues. All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the "fair use doctrine" in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of Blogger.com and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Remixx World!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

It is interesting (and perhaps even intentional) that this ancient language is being revealed right around the time there are all these conspiracy theories about the Anunnaki and the 10th Planet Nibiru are supposed about to come to pass. It is enough to give me a headache when I think about everything that I have heard in the last few years about the alleged Doomsday from Y2K to Planet X to pole shifts to alien wars to black holes to Mayan prophecies to religious doctrines.

The language of the Epic of Gilgamesh and King Hammurabi has found a new life online after being dead for some 2,000 years.

The Babylonian language, written on clay tablets in cuneiform script, dominated the Near East for centuries before it was gradually displaced by Aramaic. After a long decline, it disappeared from use altogether sometime in the first century A.D. - and was only deciphered nearly two millennia later by 19th-century European academics.

Great Britain has also released some ancient Greek manuscripts as well. It could be unrelated, but I write a conspiracy theory blog, so nothing is unrelated in the overall scheme of things when it comes to these types of stories.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Will the post office go out of business or will it receive a bailout? At this point, I do not see any hope for the USPS except for one of those two options. It is too difficult for the USPS to operate without loss in the digital age. I once used the postal service on a regular basis. I infrequently use the USPS now and I know that I am not alone. The USPS is cutting costs in an effort to stay afloat including suspension of its pension contributions by instituting a cash conservation plan.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has informed the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of its intention to suspend its employer’s contributions for the defined benefit portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to conserve cash and preserve liquidity. The Postal Service has a FERS account surplus valued at $6.9 billion.

“We will continue to transmit to OPM employees’ contributions to FERS and also will continue to transmit employer automatic and matching contributions and employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan,” said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer and executive vice president.

The Postal Service pays about $115 million every other week to OPM for the FERS annuity. Suspension of payments, effective June 24, will free about $800 million in the current fiscal year.

The Postal Service continues to cut costs significantly with initiatives to reduce the size of its labor force, the number of mail processing facilities and administrative overhead. Over the last four fiscal years, the Postal Service has reduced its size by 110,000 career positions and saved $12 billion in costs.

The Postal Service also is generating new revenue by opening cost-effective new retail locations in places where people already shop, including grocery stores, drug stores and office supply stores, and introducing other new product and pricing initiatives.

Despite significant cost reductions in areas within its control, and even with this emergency action, the Postal Service needs Congress to enact legislation that would do the following to return the Postal Service to financial stability:

I heard about this BP Liberty project from Lindsey Williams on The Alex Jones Show today (June 22). Mr. Williams stated that there was going to be a huge announcement in the coming weeks in connection with this oil field. The image above reflects where the oil field lies in the Beaufort Sea.

Therefore, I figured that I would do some research on the oil field in case this prediction comes true. The way Mr. Williams described it, the media will report that this oil field as being a huge find. You can read the details of these official documents submitted to Alaska by BP to make the determination of whether this constitutes a major find. BP reports that it is a 100-million barrel field which does not seem significant to me when compared with oil fields in the Middle East and Gulf of Mexico.

BP’s Liberty project, estimated to cost more than $1 billion, will tap into a new 100-million-barrel reservoir. The project will set standards for Arctic oilfield development while minimizing the onshore and offshore environmental footprint. The Liberty field is located in shallow water (20 feet) inside the Beaufort Sea’s barrier islands. The project will take advantage of existing infrastructure in the BP operated Endicott oil field, which has been producing oil since 1987.

BP Plc, the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the U.S., suspended construction of a drilling rig at its Liberty project in Alaska to “take time to evaluate the safety systems” on the rig, Steve Rinehart, a company spokesman, said in a telephone interview...

...The decision to halt construction of the drilling rig was made after “a number of engineering and design issues arose,” during construction, which began after parts of the rig reached Alaska’s North Slope in the late summer of 2009, Rinehart said. He declined to provide further details.

Description & Purpose: The Phantom Ray unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) is a fighter-sized technology demonstrator designed as a flying test bed for advanced technologies. Phantom Ray is an internally funded program that evolved from the prototype vehicle Boeing originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/U.S. Air Force/U.S. Navy JointUnmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program.

ST. LOUIS, May 3, 2011 -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system (UAS) successfully completed its first flight April 27 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

The 17-minute flight took place following a series of high-speed taxi tests in March that validated ground guidance, navigation and control and verified mission planning, pilot interface and operational procedures. Phantom Ray flew to 7,500 feet and reached a speed of 178 knots.

"This day has been two-and-a-half years in the making," said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works. "It's the beginning of providing our customers with a test bed to develop future unmanned systems technology, and a testament to the capabilities resident within Boeing. Just as follow-on tests will expand Phantom Ray's flight envelope, they also will help Boeing expand its presence in the unmanned systems market."

The flight demonstrated Phantom Ray's basic airworthiness, setting the stage for additional flights in the next few weeks. These company-funded flights will prepare Phantom Ray to support potential missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous air refueling.

"The first flight moves us farther into the next phase of unmanned aircraft," said Craig Brown, Phantom Ray program manager for Boeing. "Autonomous, fighter-sized unmanned aircraft are real, and the UAS bar has been raised. Now I’m eager to see how high that bar will go."

Phantom Ray is one of several programs in Phantom Works, including Phantom Eye, that is part of a rapid prototyping initiative to design, develop and build advanced aircraft and then demonstrate their capabilities. Boeing's portfolio of UAS solutions also includes the A160T Hummingbird, Integrator, ScanEagle and SolarEagle.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $32 billion business with 66,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.

I happened to stumble across this June, 2010 document while doing a search for microdrones. If you are interested in the military's arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles, check the above the document and scroll toward the end for an exhaustive list of the declassified vehicles. The military probably has other UAVs that are classified, so those vehicles will not appear in the above document.

As for the microdrones, there were mainstream media stories on them back in 2007, so this is not really breaking news.

When it takes to the skies above Liverpool this summer, it will be the first time such a device has been put to civilian use in this country.

With four stubby arms carrying the rotors, a miniature camera and a pair of landing skids, the near-silent drone is designed to hover above crime scenes and send footage to officers on the ground.

Cooper Nuclear Station, an electric power plant in southeast Nebraska, declared a “Notification of Unusual Event” this morning at 4:02 a. m. The declaration was anticipated throughout Saturday by the power plant’s operators, who closely tracked the river’s steady increase in elevation due to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ releases from dams upstream.

The notification was made as part of safety and emergency preparedness plan the station follows when flooding conditions are in effect. The plan’s procedures dictate when the Missouri River’s water level reaches 42.5 feet, or greater than 899 feet above sea level, a notification of unusual event is declared.

There is no threat to plant employees or to the public; the plant continues to operate safely. Appropriate local, county, state, and federal agencies were also notified.

Cooper staff continuously monitors the river’s water levels as part of normal operations. However, on May 30, site personnel began additional preparations in anticipation of the Corps’ release of higher volumes of water. Personnel have been proactive in preparing the station for flood conditions by filling sandbags, constructing barricades, procuring materials and supplies, and reinforcing the access road plant staff use to get to the station. More that 5,000 tons of sand was brought in for constructing barricades, such as Hesco barriers placed around the station’s switchyard of transformers and other electrical equipment.

Should the river’s level increase to 900 feet above sea level, plant personnel will also barricade internal doorways as another layer of protection for facility equipment. If the river’s level increases to 45.5 feet or 902 feet above sea level, plant operators would take the station offline as a protective safety measure. The plant was built at 903’ MSL, which is 13 feet above natural grade.

A Notification of Unusual Event is the lowest and least serious of four emergency classifications established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for nuclear power plants. If placed on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the least serious level of an emergency and 4 being the most serious level of an emergency, a “Notification of Unusual Event” would equal a 1.

Cooper Nuclear Station is located three miles southeast of Brownville, Nebraska, near the Missouri River. It is owned and operated by the Nebraska Public Power District, with headquarters in Columbus, Nebraska.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved licenses that will allow up to 1,000 tons of Germany’s low-level radioactive waste to be brought to Oak Ridge, Tenn., for incineration...

...The state already receives 75 percent of the nation’s low-level radioactive waste...according to state records.

Who approved the burning of commercial radioactive waste in the Tennessee Legislature? Every atomic country around the world will have Tennessee on speed-dial when it needs to dispose of some low-level radioactive waste. It reminds me of an old Simpsons episode where Homer (whom I believe was Mayor at the time) sold dumping rights permits to neighboring cities for trash disposal in Springfield. The resulting contamination and toxicity required the city to be moved. Unfortunately, there is no where nearby to move the State of Tennessee if burning 20.5 million tons of radioactive waste annually eventually contaminates the countryside.